Mutation
by Kate Maxwell
Summary: When a seemingly innocent experiment of Richie's backfires it has terrifying consequences for Virgil
1. Chapter One

It was a beautiful sunny morning in the city of Dakota, the people of the city were already up and getting on with their lives. Amongst them was Static flying through the air on a slightly earlier than normal patrol, having not been able to sleep due to the stress of school as his alter ego Virgil Hawkins.

His partner and best friend Richie Foley or Gear was still fast asleep after the busy late night patrol. Static smirked and shook his hair out of his eyes as he remembered how Richie's newest invention blew up in Richie's face and covered Richie head to toe in a new adhesive that he had created, which turned to stone in a matter of seconds.

It had taken Virgil four hours to free his best friend, who as soon as he was free of the stone cocoon rushed off to take a shower in the bathroom.

* * *

Static was half lost in thought that he did not notice the energy in his disc flicker slightly for a moment. Happy that the city was secure, Static changed direction and headed back to the gas station to finish cleaning up last night's mess. 

_Beep! Beep! _Something beeped inside Static's jacket as he landed outside their headquarters, the abandoned gas station of solitude. Static dug into his pocket for the shock vox and answered it.

"Morning Richie!" He said cheerfully as he stepped into their headquarters.

"Bro, has anybody told you that you are way too cheerful for this time of the morning" A tired voice said as Virgil took his mask off with one hand.

"Yeah, my pops before his first cup of coffee... I just finished morning patrol and no sign of crime in sight!" Virgil said, a big smile on his face as he sat down on the old couch and began to slowly change out of his superhero costume and back into his street clothes.

"That's not unusual, it was last night..." Richie's voice said and there was a sound of clothes being moved around.

* * *

Richie woke himself up and called Virgil on the shock vox, after putting his glasses on, to find out how morning patrol went as he was still recovering from an experiment gone wrong the previous night. He winced as Virgil answered it in his normal active self, "Bro, has anybody told you that you are way too cheerful for this time of morning" His voice half cracked, as Richie ran his free hand through his hair. 

"Yeah, my pops before his first cup of coffee... I just finished morning patrol and no sign of crime in sight!" Virgil's cheerful voice said, and sounds of him slowly changing could be heard in the background.

"That's not unusual, it was last night... well apart from a couple of cats up several different trees" Richie said, throwing his bedding aside and got up to find some clothes draped over the back of the computer chair.

"I know, are you coming here to help clean up?" Virgil's voice asked. Richie had put the shock vox down for a minute to pull his T-shirt and famous blue jumper on. Picking up the shock vox again, and pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"Yeah... Let me just grab a bite to eat and I will be there" Richie said, jumping around a little to get his trousers on one handed.

* * *

Virgil heard a crash over the shock vox and he shook his head, as he walked over into the back of the gas station into the bathroom area. "Rich? You ok man?" Virgil asked as he looked in the mirror and adjusted a few bits of his hair. 

"Y...yeah! I'm fine" Richie's voice said, his voice sounded a little breathless. "Ok Rich! I'll see you in a bit!" Virgil said and switched off the shock vox.

Moving out of the bathroom, Virgil opened a nearby cupboard to fish out a large broom. Closing the cupboard, he moved over to where Richie's experiment had left a large amount of rubble and dust.

* * *

Richie picked himself up after falling over, getting his foot caught while trying to get them on. "Ouch!" Richie muttered. 

"Rich, you ok man?" Virgil's voice asked, trying not to sound amused.

"Y...yeah! I'm fine" Richie said breathlessly, getting the annoying pants on before getting up, somehow he had managed to keep hold on the shock vox when he fell.

"Ok Rich! I'll see you in a bit!" Virgil's voice said and then the vox clicked off.

Richie got back to his feet and made sure his pants were on properly this time. S_tupid things! _Richie thought as he made sure his shirt was tucked in before putting his shoes on and left the room.

* * *

Maggie sat at the table, drinking her coffee and was half watching a new show on cooking. 

Richie slowly crept in and looked around, half hidden by the door.

"Its ok Richie, he's left" Maggie said knowing that her son was looking for his father, Sean.

Richie sighed an inner sigh of relief, even though his dad had gotten better control of his temper over the last year or so Sean was still a dangerous guy to be around first thing in the morning. He just wasn't a morning person.

"Thanks Mom" Richie said, and placed some bread in the toaster and then helped himself to the ready-made coffee.

"I was expecting you to be getting up late considering it's a weekend" Maggie said, then took a sip of her fast cooling coffee.

"I got to go and meet Virgil down at Rocket Comics! There's a new shipment coming in soon," Richie said while stirring a little bit of milk into his coffee before taking a sip.

"Oh, that's fine Richie" Maggie said, then carried on watching the show.

_Pop! _The toaster went, and showed two pieces of freshly done toast. Richie left them there while he found a knife and the butter; he loved melted butter on hot toast.

Happy that there was enough butter on his toast, Richie finished his coffee as quickly as he could before leaving the kitchen with one piece of toast in his mouth and the other in his hand.

Finishing the piece of toast in his mouth as he made sure that his shoelaces were done up correctly so that they could be undone in a hurry.

"See you later mom!" Richie said opening the door and left the house, still with only half of his breakfast eating.

He closed the door and ate the other piece of his toast as he headed over to the gas station, it would have been much quicker to nip into an ally change into Gear and fly there but walking gave Richie time to think and to puzzle out why last nights routine experiment could have gone so far awry.

* * *

Virgil had started cleaning the rubble and dust left over from Richie's experiment, the rubble was no problem even though there was a lot of it, the dust was the main trouble. Every sweep of the broom stirred up a cloud of fine particles that he kept inhaling, which resulted in frequent sneezing fits. Several times he'd ended up sneezing for a good few minutes each time. 

Taking a slight break from the hard work and the sneezing fits Virgil went to rest outside and to get some fresh air.

_My powers could work as a fan and push the dust out but then cleaning up would create more dust and... _Virgil thought to himself then rubbed a hand through his hair and felt that if he used his powers to try and get rid of the dust that when cleaning that would create more dust. This predicament gave Virgil a headache - or maybe that was because he'd been sneezing so hard and so often - and a problem. How to clear away the rubble without filling headquarters with a massive cloud of dust.

And then it dawned on him. He could just use the damned cleaner. They'd salvaged it a few weeks ago and while it wasn't the most reliable cleaner in the world it would get the job done. Without throwing up those annoying dust clouds. _Now why didn't I think of that before,_ he thought mentally berating himself for not thinking about it earlier.

Going back into the gas station, Virgil headed over to the same cupboard where he had taken the broom from. Digging under the folded materials that were used for repairing their superhero costumes, he found the cleaner and pulled it out.

Hoping that this would actually work, Virgil found a spare socket and plugged the cleaner in. He would of used his powers to power up the cleaner but he would of rather of not risked it.

"Yes!" Virgil said as he pressed the switch and the cleaner spurred into action, and so he started cleaning up the rubble and dust - the dust now was sucked into the cleaner, which was laid on the floor - Happy that there was hardly any dust, Virgil was able to clean up the rest of the rubble without trouble.

"Hey bro! You here?" Richie's voice called and the door opened to reveal the blonde genius.

Virgil shut off the cleaner and said, "Hey Rich! Just in time to help shift the rubble! Had a slight problem with the dust, but this old cleaner works like a charm!"

"That's cool! So is that really how much dust and rubble there is?" Richie asked coming over to where Virgil was and checked the bag inside the cleaner, which was full.

"Wow, full already, huh?" Virgil said leaning against the broom and felt a tickle in his throat. Trying to cough it away brought tears to his eyes.

Richie was stunned and quickly went to get a drink from the fridge and noticed a fine layer of dust laid on the top of it. Getting a bottle of water out, he quickly went to his best mate and opened the bottle of water before offering it to him.

Virgil gratefully accepted the bottle of water and drank half of it without realising. "Thanks...bro" Virgil said breathlessly and went to rest on the old couch for a bit.

"Gave me a fright there Virg!" Richie said, moving to sit down on the couch next to Virgil.

"Sorry bro... show's how much dust there was..." Virgil said and slowly finished the bottle of water.

"Yeah," Richie agreed. "I didn't realise that there would be that much dust."

"Tell you what bro neither did I or I would have brought a dust mask. So any idea what caused that experiment to blow up in our faces?"

"Not a clue bro. I don't have a clue. I'll have to properly analyse the data to determine that. But that mix shouldn't have exploded."

"Well at least it didn't blow up a garage this time."

"Just made a hell of a mess," Richie agreed laughing and wincing as he remembered what happened the last time an experiment with supposedly stable compounds blew up. At least this time no harm had been done. To anything or anyone.


	2. Chapter Two

Mutation

Chapter Two

Having finished cleaning up the rubble, Virgil thought that it would be best if he headed home for a shower and something to eat. Richie, however, felt that he needed to do a quick patrol himself even though Virgil had already carried out a morning patrol.

"That's fine bro! I'll call you on the shock vox when I'm on the way back here" Virgil said, dusting himself off a little.

"Sure, you could use a shower!" Richie said as he changed into his superhero costume and saw Virgil disappear into a cloud of dust.

Coughing slightly Virgil tried to use his powers to clear the dust away but no power came to his hand. "Odd..." Virgil coughed even as he frowned puzzled by why his power wouldn't come.

"You ok V?" Richie called through the dust.

"Yeah..." Virgil said and tried to clear the dust again, this time the power came to his hand and he was able to clear away the dust by creating an energy whirlwind.

Virgil appeared through the dust, his chocolate coloured skin more of a grey-brown because of the dust.

Richie was busy making sure his skates were done up correctly. Looking up, he grinned and tried hold back the laughter as he saw Virgil completely covered in grey dust but lost the battle and doubled over with laughter on the couch. Which promptly earned him an irritated glare from Virgil.

Virgil just shrugged and as he walked by, he zapped Richie gently making his friend jump and give a slight yelp before leaving the gas station and walked off towards the quickest way home.

* * *

Richie had to pat his hair down as it had stood on end after Virgil had zapped him lightly before leaving their headquarters. _Can't he take a joke,_ he thought in irritation as he finally got his hair to stop standing on end as the charge of electrostatic energy faded from his body, putting his helmet on he activated his link with backpack and ran a quick diagnostic on all his gadgets.

Then satisfied that everything was working as it should he skated out of the headquarters and made sure that it was secure before he activated his jet blades and took to the air. Flying over the city more on automatic pilot than anything else he ordered backpack to scan the city for any signs of trouble be it of the conventional criminal or metahuman kind, or even if it was as simple as a cat getting stuck up a tree. While backpack scanned the city he went over the equations for last nights experiment in his head trying to understand why it had suddenly blown up in his face.

* * *

Hearing the familiar sound of Richie's jet blades Virgil looked up in time to see Gear flying away across the skyline of Dakota City. _Have a good patrol Rich,_ he thought before looking back at the street again.

Checking the road was clear he crossed quickly and headed into the ally that he had long ago discovered cut his journey time between the gas station and home in half. The sooner he got home the sooner he could have a nice hot shower.

As he walked down the alleyway Virgil suddenly began to feel a little strange, like he was suddenly dizzy. Virgil came to a dead stop and steadied himself against the wall. Once the momentary spell of dizziness passed he started walking again. _That'll teach me to have more for breakfast,_ he thought.

He had barely taken a few steps when a sudden sharp pain erupted deep within his chest. Virgil gasped from the surprise of it; coming to a dead stop again doubled over clutching his sides as the pain spread outwards from his chest. He dropped to his knees barely holding back the scream._ Wh…what's happening to me,_ he thought as the pain spread and got worse and worse with every wave. A strange fuzziness enveloped his thoughts as the pain spread until his whole body felt like it was on fire. And then his world went black.

* * *

Flying at a leisurely pace Gear was soon over the park though he was only partly concentrating on where he was going. The bulk of his attention was focused of unravelling the formula for the compound he had created last night as he searched for the illusive answer as to why it had exploded.

All thoughts of the formula abruptly disappeared from his mind as backpacks sensors reported that some kind of coherent energy mass was in the centre of town and causing absolute havoc.

_I wonder what that is,_ Gear thought as he changed course from his normal patrol route. Increasing speed to maximum he hurried for the centre of the city.

Arriving at the scene Gear paused in the air to assess the situation. A creature that appeared to be made of pure energy was steadily trashing down town with strange but obviously powerful blasts of energy. The creature was human shaped but it was entirely made of some blue energy. A pulsing corona of purplish blue light seemed to hug the creature's body. He couldn't see identifiable features, as every detail of the creature was blurred and indistinct.

Pulling out a zap cap he threw it at the ground beside the creature as a warning. "Hey! Want to fight me instead?" Gear said, hovering just above the road.

The creature ignored the exploding zap cap but rounded on him and fired bolts of energy that looked like a mixture of a lightning bolt and an ion bolt from both hands at him. Gear dodged the blasts of energy easily enough.

Taking a water zap cap from its slot he threw it hard at the creature. The zap cap hit the energy corona surrounding the creature and just bounced off to explode on the other side of the street. _Damned things got its own force field. How lovely for me,_ Gear thought to himself sarcastically even as he threw another zap cap at the creature.

The zap cap hit a different part of the creature and again bounced off the corona/force field thing surrounding it but with slightly less force. The field flickered slightly small energy particles breaking away. The creature snarled at him and launched another attack.

Gear dodged the bolt of energy fired at him by the creature but the bolt came much closer to him this time. The creatures aim was improving. Even as he dodged the bolt of energy he had backpack scan the creature. Backpack reported that the force field around the creature had lost ten percent of its strength. Taking more zap caps from his belt pouch he threw them at the creature. Three zap caps struck the creature. Two bounced off its force field to exploded on the other side of the street the third broke through the field surrounding the creature and discharged its content of water straight onto the creatures skin.

There was a harsh electrical crack and the creature howled in pain reeling back as its energy flickered and rippled with strange distortion waves.

In pain and enraged the creature fired bolt after bolt at Gear. Gear dodged most of them but one bolt scored a glancing blow on backpack eliciting a spray of sparks and molten metal from the robot. A damage report flashed onto Gear's helmet visor and Gear swore. The glancing blow had caused serious damage to backpack. The outer shell was breached three processors and part of backpacks memory had been wrecked. Systems in backpack were failing left, right and centre. He was going to have some serious repair work to do.

Whirling towards the creature again Gear threw another zap cap - it was the last water one that he had since he didn't carry many. The zap cap struck the creature in the middle of its body and exploded and the creature screamed in pain. Yet something else happened this time besides the electrical crack and distortions in the creatures mass. Its energy seemed to splutter and flicker like a television going on the blink. The creatures regained its stability but it definitely seemed weakened.

The creature sent another energy bolt at him but it was noticeably weaker than any of the previous blasts had been. Gear started to dodge but he wasn't quiet quick enough the edge of the bolt caught one of his skates and damaged the vectoring mechanism of the jet knocking him tumbling out of control.

By the time Gear regained his stability and looked around he found that the creature had vanished without a trace. _Where the hell did it go,_ he thought ordering backpack to scan the area for any sign of the creature. Backpack did not respond all systems were now off line. _Oh terrific,_ Gear thought.

* * *

Virgil came to find that he was lying in a pile of rubbish in a completely different location to where he could last remember being. Getting up onto his knees he looked around to find that he was in an alleyway on the other side of town from where he had last been. _How on earth did I get here,_ he thought, _well at least that pain whatever it was has stopped._

Using the wall as a brace he got back to his feet and tried his best to ignore the exhaustion that was pulling at him. He hadn't felt this tired in months not since his last all night battle with the metabreed. He felt almost like he felt when he'd expended a heck of a lot of power on something. Yet aside from this mornings patrol and cleaning the gas station he hadn't used his powers at all. Certainly not enough to make him tired.

He looked down at himself to see his clothes were dirtier than they had been when he'd left the gas station and scuffed and he noticed a few small tears in the fabric here and there. He almost looked like he'd been in a fight but as far as he knew he hadn't. He shrugged off his confusion.

"Home...Shower...Sleep" Virgil muttered to himself.

Moving as quickly as he could despite his strange feeling of exhaustion Virgil made his way across the city heading for home. He just hoped that dad and Sharon weren't there.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Virgil had just got out of the shower and was changing into some clean clothes.

_This energy depletion feels really weird, _he thought to himself pulling on a white T-shirt then began to towel off his hair as he headed down the stairs.

* * *

Gear flew back to the gas station manually; he always kept the controller with him just in case this happened. While backpack getting damaged in a fight was rare it had been known to happen. Though this was the first time that backpack had been thoroughly disabled. Whatever that energy blast fired by that creature was it had been really powerful to do so much damage with only a glancing blow.

Landing, wobbly, outside the gas station, he placed the controller away before removing Backpack from his back and walked into the headquarters.

_What a mess, _he thought as he gently laid backpack on to his desk before taking his helmet off and put his glasses on.

Richie sighed and got to work in taking his trusty robot apart to see how much internal damage it had received from the creature's energy bolt.

* * *

Making something light and quick through blurry eyes Virgil was able to have something to eat before heading upstairs to crash for a while.

Three long slow hours later Richie had taken apart and repaired most of backpack.

_Glad Virg isn't here otherwise this job would have been longer _Richie thought wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

Looking at the half complete robot in front of him and the fired components piled next to it, he sighed and rose up off his chair to stretch a little.

_Glad I got some spare parts at home... better go over there and get them _Richie thought skating over to where he left his clothes and placed his street clothes on over his superhero costume.

* * *

Changed and back at home, Richie dug around in the bottom of his closet for the few hidden shoe boxes that held spare components for backpack and any gadget that he might have need of to repair his damaged robot.

_Guess V is having more fun than I am _Richie thought throwing a few socks over his shoulder.

_Finally! _He thought pulling out a large green shoebox and moved back on his knees away from the closet before opening the box.

Inside was little separate boxes neatly piled each with its own label. Looking through them carefully, Richie took the ones he needed for Backpack closing the box and placed it back in the cupboard.

* * *

A sharp pain woke Virgil up; opening his eyes a little he hoped that whatever was causing the pain was in view. Raising his head up off his pillow, Virgil woke up a bit more to discover that his shock vox had moved so that he was laying on it. "Ouch..." Virgil said, digging out the device and placed it on his pillow before collapsing back down.

Through blurry eyes, he looked across to the alarm clock and saw that it had been about three hours since he got back and collapsed from sheer unknown energy depletion.

Moaning, he buried his head into his pillow before deciding that he should actually get up and see what Richie was up to.

Stretching up off the bed, his hair falling across his face. Virgil shook his head to clear away the cloudy thoughts of sleep before pushing himself off the bed and swung so that he was sat rather than led on his stomach.

Stretching so that any cramps were removed, Virgil could feel his energy had been renewed but not at full strength. Getting up off the bed, he retrieved his shock vox and called Richie while moving his hand through his hair to get it back to its normal self.

A slight cramp appeared in his side, but he shook it off thinking it was because he must have slept awkward in bed.

"Hey bro! You there?" Virgil said into the shock vox as he searched his chest of drawers for a jumper.

A hassled voice came through. "Yeah I'm here Virg! Where've you been?" Richie's voice said, sounding a little tired and anxious.

"Sorry Rich! I fell asleep, serves me right for being up early huh? Listen, sorry to bother you but I'm on my way back to the gas station now ok" Virgil said, and moved the shock vox away to put his jumper on.

"Ok V... got something to tell you but it can wait till we meet back up at HQ!" Richie said and the shock vox clicked off.

_Odd... wonder what's up _Virgil thought putting the shock vox away into his trouser pocket.

Leaving his room and going downstairs, Virgil quickly made sure that he had everything he needed before rushing out of the door and headed for the gas station by the quickest route that he knew. All the while wondering what was up. He knew it would be something major but what was it.

* * *

Virgil had almost reached the middle of the alley that gave the quickest short cut between his home and headquarters when again he felt that strange dizzy sensation. Virgil closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths until it passed. _What keeps causing that,_ he thought a second before the pain erupted in his chest again, but this time it was worse, a lot worse.

Doubling over Virgil dropped to his knees gasping and moaning in pain clutching at his sides. _Oh not this again,_ he thought and then couldn't stop the howl of pain that escaped his lips as another wave of pain sharper and stronger than any of the others tore through him radiating out from somewhere in the very core of his being. As the strange fuzziness began to envelop his thoughts again Virgil felt something else and awful burning, twisting sensation somewhere deep inside. With a jolt of horror Virgil realised that _something _was happening, he was _changing_ into something else.

And then his word went back.


	4. Chapter Four

Mutation Chapter Four

Author Note:

I have received some reviews about why haven't I updated more frequently recently; well to answer this I am a college student under a large workload for the next two months! I am sorry that it is my fanfics that are to suffer but I do my best to find time to break away from the college work and escape to write my fanfics in peace.

I hope this new chapter is to your liking…

* * *

Chapter Four

Adam Evans a.k.a Rubberband Man was amazed; he had never seen such a beautiful piece of equipment. The keyboard was the latest on the market, and was ten times better than his current instrument. Reading the tag, he found out that it was the state of the art and had double the memory than the old model, which Adam used.

Looking at the price Adam saw that it was how much he expected to find the state of the art equipment priced at. Chewing his bottom lip in thought Adam knew that he could afford it but did he really want to spend that amount of money on the new keyboard when his old one worked perfectly.

He did promise Sharon a meal followed by a movie, so maybe pleasing her is more important than buying a state of the art piece of music equipment. Adam smiled, '_definitely_' He thought before moving away from the keyboard displays to look at new books of music for inspiration. He was interrupted though by an explosion rocking the street and screams were heard running passed the shop.

"Now what?" Adam said out loud rushing out of the shop and transformed his clothes into his costume, before transforming into his ball shape and bounce over the crowds that ran away from where the explosion came from. '_Wonder what's causing all this chaos?' _He thought, as he turned right into the other street and saw what was causing the problem.

A large humanoid blue energy creature surrounded by a corona of purple energy was in the middle of the road, cars had been turned upside down and were on fire, billboards were on fire up on the roof of the nearby buildings and everywhere were people running scared as fast as they could away from the creature. Rubberband Man jumped out of his ball form and stared at the creature in disbelief. '_Can that be another bang baby?' _He thought dodging one of the large and obviously very destructive balls of energy being thrown by the creature and saw it hit a lamppost behind him and completely destroy it.

"Hey! Why not pick a fight with me!" Rubberband Man yelled and threw some nearby rubble at the creature, which bounced off the corona around the creature and crumpled into dust. "What the? Oh damn the things got a force field." Rubberband Man said, quickly transforming into his ball form to bounce out of the way as the creature unleashed a series of energy bolts powerful enough to hurt even him should he be hit.

The monster then stopped and howled in pain, looking for the source, Adam could see that something had managed to break through the force field barrier surrounding the creature and hit it. "I would like to know too! Do you realise how many hours work you have giving me!" A familiar voice called out before appearing on a rooftop before unleashing another wave of attacks at the same spot.

"Gear!" Rubberband Man called out even as he evaded another one of the creature's powerful energy bolts.

* * *

Richie was slowly and steadily replacing the new circuit boards into Backpack while absent mildly keeping an ear out for the alarm of the police scanner or Virgil coming into the headquarters.

'_Half done!_' Richie thought to himself, leaning back and stretched until his spine popped.

BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP! The police scanners alert tone making him jump a mile.

"Now what?" Richie muttered, getting off the chair and went over to the police scanner to see what had set it off.

"Require backup! That creature has reappeared! Send back up to the Rocket Comic Store on 24th Street!" A police officer reported.

Richie went wide eyed and went off to quickly change into Gear and made sure he carried extra water zap caps with him as they were the only things that seemed to be able to break down the creatures force field and hurt the thing.

A bit upset that he had to leave Backpack behind, Gear left the headquarters and headed off into the sky for 24th Street where the cops were trying to battle against the creature.

While flying through the sky, Gear tried to think of someway that the creature would come into existence and why each time the creature had appeared that Virgil was no where in sight. '_Could it be that somehow the creature is linked to Virgil_,' he thought, '_nah Richie that's a stupid thought_.'

Looking around Gear saw that he was approaching the area in where the creature was spotted last, he cursed seeing the amount of damage and panic the creature had created.

Taking a water zap cap out of Backpack as he flew closer, he could see that Rubberband Man was dodging the creature's attacks. Rubberband Man tried to attack the creature by using some nearby debris but it was turned into dust.

"What the? Oh damn the things got a force field." Rubberband Man's voice echoed off the walls of the buildings.

Gear let loose two water zap caps together, the first one hit the corona of the creature while the second one penetrated and hit the creature full force. The humanoid creature cried out in pain as the water touched its skin.

"I would like to know too! Do you realise how many hours work you have giving me!" He called out, and flew above the creature and landed on the building's rooftop on the other side while launching another attack but at a different spot.

"What is that thing and why does those water caps the only way to penetrate its force field" Rubberband Man said, bouncing up onto the same roof Gear was standing on.

"I'm not sure... but I do know that it has to be electrical somehow because the water's effects... damn! Where is Static when we need him" Gear said, taking off back into the air as the creature launched another attack at the two heroes, who split and tried to confuse the creature by attacking it from two sides at once.

The creature launched an attack out from both hands trying to hit the two heroes; one caught Adam near his foot. Most of the power missed him but luckily he was not injured due to his elastic power. _'Too close' _Adam thought as he morphed shape again to dodge another oncoming attack.

Gear was doing better, but he was tiring from this battle... the first battle had taken a lot of out him and out of Backpack. '_And this time, it's stronger than last time!' _Gear thought dodging another bolt from the creature, which hit a billboard destroying a third of it and setting the rest on fire. He launched another attack and did a quick mental count to see how many water caps he had left with him. _'Four...' _Gear thought, realising how many he had got through.

Looking more closely at the creature, he could see that it was bigger than during his last encounter with it and its energy was brighter, stronger and strangely more menacing, '_wish I had Backpack with me! I would be able to get some sort of analyse out of this and be able to find out where it came from!' _Gear thought dodging another random attack. If the creature's power was stronger as it appeared to be he hated to think what would happen if he were to get hit.

* * *

On the ground, Adam was using every trick he knew to keep away from the creature's powerful blasts. The creature's attacks were purely random and so, Rubberband Man had to keep on his toes ready to dodge the next wave of attacks. Knowing if one hit him it would probably really hurt.

Looking above for a brief second, he could see that Gear seemed tired and was dodging the attacks but his mind was else ware. That brief seconds loss of concentration cost Adam, the creature unleashed a powerful dual blast of energy at him. He was able to dodge the first bolt of energy but the second blast caught him full on, the force of the impact sent him flying back into a wall while the energy in the blast badly stunned him despite his bodies natural resistance to electrical assaults.

The creature advanced on the fallen music writer, Gear saw this and realising that the creature meant to finish off Adam who would probably not withstand another blast, flew in front of the creature and launched his last four water zap caps at the creature. The first bounced off the creature's force field the other three struck it full on and the creature screamed in pain is energy rippling and flickering with distortion waves. Abruptly the creature gave off a blinding flash of bluish light and when Adam and Gear could see again there was absolutely no sign of the creature. It had again vanished into thin air.

* * *

Virgil rose to his feet again finding himself in a completely different location to where he last was, '_please tell me that was a bad dream… please don't say that I'm turning into some kind of monster' _He thought, closing his eyes and tried to remember what had happened before the blackout.

Virgil's clothes were a mess, they were torn and burnt in some places, he was shaky and unsure of why the blackouts kept happening to him. '_I have to get to Richie… see if he might know what's up with these blackouts' _He thought, dusting himself off carefully trying not to make the tears in his clothes any bigger.

A horrible burning, twisting sensation inside… a strange fuzziness… Virgil managed to remember as he closed his eyes briefly and opened them again as he dusted his hands off and shook his hair back to the way it usually was before continuing his journey to their headquarters.

Deep down, he was worried that something bad was happening to him but Virgil refused to believe it and thought that his power might be growing but to what heights he did not want to know.

* * *

Gear shook the spots out of his vision looking around he saw the full extent of the damage created in the creature's latest appearance.

'_Ooh boy…' _He thought as firefighters and paramedics accompanied by the police arrived and began to go through the chaos of what was left of 24th street. The police worked on clearing the street to give better access to the firefighters and paramedics. The fires were being fought by half of the team of firefighters while the other half were helping the police clear the street.

Gear would have helped but he felt that Rubberband Man needed more attention. "Adam, you ok?" Gear asked, shaking his shoulders lightly to try and bring him out of his daze. The blast from the creature had obviously stunned him badly.

"Static? Yeah I'm cool! Onyx has gotten tougher hasn't he?" Rubberband Man said, obviously confused.

Shaking his head, Gear bent down and helped the other hero up onto his feet. "Come on, let's get back to HQ… think we'll walk, its not far" Gear said, supporting him as they headed down the street for the quickest route back to the gas station.

* * *

Virgil stumbled through the alleyway and crossed the road to their secret headquarters, the Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude. Sighing as he pushed the door open, Virgil saw signs of Richie had been here recently but had disappeared again. By the state of whatever he was working on, Virgil could tell he left in a hurry.

_'I black out and something strikes in the city...' _Virgil thought, walking properly into the gas station and saw that Richie was actually fixing a heavily damage Backpack. "What? What happened to you..." Virgil said, looking at the mess of his best mate's robot sidekick backpack looked like it had been hit by somekind of powerful energy blast. There was a pile of new circuit boards and a pile of burnt out circuit boards lined up by the robot. The green light blinked as in trying to reboot itself with its current systems that were online.

"Take it easy Backpack, think you're not fully repaired yet" Virgil said, and noticed a wave of pain rush through him starting at the pits of his stomach and up through his body and escape his mouth as a short gasp. '_Not again... please...' _He begged but felt the same sensation as he felt back in the alley.

Taking deep breaths, Virgil tried to push the feeling down... bottling it up inside, as he would do with his powers if he let his emotions get out of control. A blue glow momentarily spread under his skin for a moment before vanishing leaving his skin its normal chocolate brown colour. Staring at his arm Virgil's eyes went wide and realised that something was not right, _'I...I'm transforming into something!' _He thought and remembered hearing someone talking about an appearance of an energy creature in Dakota that went on a rampage but Gear seemly stopped it. _'Am I that creature,' _Virgil thought in horror, _'am I turning into that thing.'_

The pain came to the surface again with even more force as if whatever was happening inside him was fighting against his attempts to contain it. Virgil groaned in pain doubling over but continued to fight against what was happening within him with all his strength. He wouldn't give in he wouldn't let it win.

The blue glow spread under his skin and waves of electrostatic energy crackled around him for several minutes and for a moment his body started to expanded and distort. But then the distortions stopped and the glow and energy arcs faded away as Virgil won the battle.

Virgil crumpled to his knees exhausted by the battle and spent another few minutes trying to get his breath back. Stopping the change had taken so much of his strength, so much effort that he knew he probably would not be able to do it again.

"I have to get out of here. Away from Dakota," Virgil gasped realising that he and the monster inside of him were now a threat to his family and to the city that he loved.

Getting his breath back Virgil hurried out of the gas station heading for home with only one thought one goal on his mind. He had to leave Dakota; he had to leave it now while he was still human. Because if he stayed and he transformed into the creature again then everything he loved would be in danger.

And Virgil could not allow that.

Unknown and unnoticed by Virgil, Backpack had watched and recorded this whole scene as there were a few of the systems that escaped the creature's attack that fried most of its circuitry earlier. It saved the footage and kept it in an easy to locate spot ready to display it when Richie/Gear returned to finish the job he had started.

* * *

Ok, hope this will make my readers happy for a while  
Like to say a big thank you to my beta-reader AndrewJamesWilliam for helping me complete this chapter.

So RR please!


	5. Chapter Five

**Mutation**

**Chapter Five**

A few minutes after Virgil ran from the abandoned gas station of solitude Gear walked in. He was still supporting a dazed Rubberband Man who was still recovering from being hit full on by a bolt from the energy creature. Gear supported Rubberband Man as they staggered over to the couch.

As soon as they were there Gear helped Adam sit down and looked worriedly at the elastic metahuman.

"Are you alright," he asked.

"I will be," Adam replied leaning back on the uncomfortable couch and closing his eyes. He felt a bit like a fried eel and his abdomen ached around where the bolt had struck him. He was painfully aware that it was only his body's natural resistance to electrical attacks that had prevented him being badly hurt. Anyone else who'd been hit would have been badly burned if not killed outright. The power in those blasts was so high that it would give even Static a run for his money. _And thinking of Static where was he?_ Adam thought, _it's not like him to miss that kind of a fight._

"Are you sure?" Gear asked.

"I'm sure. It's fading. What the hell was that thing Gear?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea," Gear answered. "All I know is that the first time I encountered the thing it almost completely trashed backpack. And that this time around it was bigger and a hell of a lot stronger."

"What do think it is though? Another bang baby?"

"I'm not sure. The creature seems to be running on instinct so its possible that if it was ever human that that human part is either completely gone or buried. It could also be that that creature is another state for someone else. Could be someone like us transforms into that thing but when the creature weakens changes back. A bit like when Thomas Kemp used to transform into Tantrum."

"Possible. But where was Static? It's not like him to miss a battle."

"I don't know. I've not seen him since early this morning," Gear answered. "And he's not responded when I try to call him."

Adam frowned getting a little concerned. That wasn't like Static, while the younger teen could be arrogant he wouldn't ignore you if you spoke to him or tried to call him.

"That's not like him," he said.

"Tell me something I don't know," Gear replied. "You just sit there and recover. I need to get back to repairing backpack." Adam nodded agreement. Gear smiled back wishing he could take his helmet off but Adam didn't know who he was.

Gear went back to the workbench and then paused when he saw the blinking light on backpack. His faithful robot was partially operational and had recorded something. Interface systems between his helmet and backpack were still dead so there was only one way he could view what backpack had recorded.

"Odd backpacks recorded something," he said. Adam got up.

"What do you think he's recorded," Adam asked coming over.

"I don't know," Gear answered even as he booted up his computer before retrieving a cable from a drawer to connect backpack's systems to the computer so they could view the recording. "But we'll know in a minute."

It didn't take long to connect backpack to the computer. Retrieving the remote control for backpack Gear input a command and the computer monitor display changed to show a video image that was amazingly clear despite the damage to backpacks systems.

The video showed Virgil coming into the headquarters his clothes looking battered as if he'd been in a fight or something. _Has he been in a fight,_ Gear wondered to himself, _or does it have something to do with that creature?_

Adam was stunned at the sight of Virgil Hawkins on the monitor screen.

"Why was Virgil coming here Gear," Adam asked. Gear sighed and paused the playback, which currently had Virgil standing near backpack.

"Haven't you figured it out yet Adam," he asked the other superhero. "Who me and Static really are?"

"No," Adam asked though he had his suspicions.

Gear sighed and took off his helmet and Adam gasped in shock and surprise.

"Richie," he exclaimed shocked.

"Surprised," Richie asked grinning amused by the expression of total shock and surprise on Adams face. He wished Virgil was here to see it, and that he had a camera handy to record it. It was rare that you got to see Adam Evans so utterly dumbstruck.

"You could say that," Adam replied and his eyes widened as a realisation dawned upon him. "Wait if you're Gear then does that mean that Virgil's…"

"Static?" Richie interrupted. "Yes."

"Does anyone else know," Adam asked after a moment of stunned silence while silently berating himself for not realising earlier that Virgil Hawkins and the electrically charged superhero of Dakota were one and the same. There were so many similarities between Virgil and Static that it should have been obvious. They were the same height, had the same build and hairstyle, even sounded the same. But somehow he hadn't put two and two together and realised that they reason they were so similar was because Virgil was Static.

"Aside from me only a few people know," Richie answered. "His dad knows, so does Batman and one or two others but that's it."

"Does Sharon?"

"No. Though she almost found out one time. It's a good thing she'd make Virgil's life hell if she did," Richie replied.

"Probably," Adam agreed smiling remembering that despite the ongoing verbal feud between Sharon and Virgil, Sharon was very protective of her little brother. She would hit the roof and be worried out of her mind if she knew that Virgil was both a metahuman and Static.

"I wonder what he was doing here," Richie said. "He obviously left for some reason and what happened to his clothes." He resumed the playback.

There was no audio - backpacks voice pickups were still down. So all they saw was Virgil's lips move as if he was speaking. Then they saw Virgil stiffen and he seemed to gasp as a look of pain crossed his face. But it was what happened next that caught their attention. A blue glow seemed to spread under his skin, an energy glow that looked just like the glow of the energy creature. They saw Virgil taking deep breaths, obviously in pain and fighting against whatever was happening to him. And after a moment the energy glow faded away.

They saw Virgil looking down at himself a look of shock and horror on his face. And then he seemed to gasp again and noticeably double over in pain. Adam and Richie watched in horrified surprise as Virgil started to transform into the energy creature. It was obvious that Virgil was fighting it and finally succeeded in stopping the change but only just. It was obvious that stopping it had seriously weakened Virgil from the way he was on his knees and gasping.

After a few moments they saw Virgil say something then get back to his feet and run out of the headquarters.

The recording ended leaving two very stunned and shaken superheroes looking at the computer monitor.

"What's happened to him," Adam wondered at last. Richie didn't answer his mind still trying to process that his best friend was turning into a monster. Something major had to have happened inside Virgil to cause him to be changing into the energy creature. And the only thing that Richie could think of was his experiment backfiring last night. Virgil had cleaned up the dust so it was possible that some of the chemical compound in the dust had gotten into his system and was somehow reacting to it and causing the transformation. _I've done this to him,_ Richie thought in despair, _it's my fault._ After a moment he sighed. _Enough blaming yourself Richard Foley,_ he told himself, _yes your experiment has most likely caused this to happen. But now you have to find someway of undoing it._

"I need to see him," Richie said at last. "If we're to have any chance of stopping him changing I really need to see him."

"Where do you think he was going," Adam asked.

"If I know Virgil he'll be heading home. Now that he's aware that something is very wrong inside him he'll be preparing to leave Dakota to avoid endangering anyone. If were to catch him we need to get over there quickly."

"Then what are we waiting for," Adam said. "Lets get a move on."

"It's not that easy Adam," Richie replied. "I can't turn up at Virgil's place dressed like this." He tapped his chest indicating that he was still wearing his uniform.

"That's a thought Sharon could be there and she doesn't know that you're Gear." Adam agreed.

"I'll go get changed quickly," Richie said and dashed into the back room to get changed into his street clothes. Adam watched him go and then sighed wishing he knew what was happening to Virgil, what was causing him to turn into the energy creature - a metamorphosis that was obviously extremely painful for Virgil. It was obvious that Virgil fought the transformation when it started to occur but it was also obvious that his private internal war with the monster inside of him was a war that Virgil was loosing.

At least it was obvious to Adam going on what Richie had said. The creature had been stronger this time around and they'd barely been able to go toe to toe with the beast. Did the increased strength of the creature mean that the human inside it namely Virgil was getting weaker, staying himself for shorter periods before the monster took over and he transformed into the creature. _If that's the case then what's going to happen when and if Virgil completely transforms into that thing,_ Adam thought, _how strong will the creature be then. How will we stop it?_

Richie returned from the backroom interrupting Adam's musings. He was now dressed in his street clothes and like Virgil did he showed no outward sign now that he was more than just a normal teenage boy. Adam realised he should get back in his street clothes as well and with a thought morphed his uniform back into his normal clothes.

"I wish I could do that," Richie said. "Save me some time." Adam just grinned then Richie turned serious. "Let's go," the younger teen said.

With that Richie turned and walked out of the abandoned gas station of solitude. Adam followed matching Richie's quick determined pace. Neither of them spoke as they headed across town towards the Hawkins home. Both hoping they would get there in time to see Virgil before he ran away.

By the time that Virgil reached his home he knew that he was running out of time. He could feel somekind of corruption spreading through the energy inside his body and containing the energy was taking more and more effort several time on his way home he had had to stop and take a few moments to reinforce his internal barriers. Virgil knew that soon he would loose control of the energy inside and if he couldn't get it back he would undoubtably transform into that thing again.

Virgil ran into the house and headed for the stairs he had to leave here now. He didn't get more than a few steps however before a familiar voice spoke.

"Virgil," Sharon's voice snapped.

Virgil stopped dead in his tracks and looked over in the direction his sister's voice had come from. To see that his father and his sister coming out of the kitchen and neither looked happy.

"You didn't do the dishes from this morning," Sharon continued.

"I forgot," Virgil replied.

"Oh you forgot," Sharon answered sarcastically. "You always forget Virgil. You never pull your weight around here."

"I do to," Virgil shot back starting to get annoyed and beginning to feel his power flare in response to his emotions, but the power was tainted and with some effort he stopped it.

"No you don't," Sharon snapped. "You never do anything. And you are going to do the dishes now."

"I don't have time," Virgil growled back getting more annoyed now and having to work harder not to let his powers show.

"You will have to make the time Virgil," Robert replied thinking that maybe he had been too lax on Virgil recently given what he had learned about Virgil a few months ago. Since learning that Virgil was Static he had cut him some slack around the house perhaps too much.

"You don't understand," Virgil said back again feeling his powers flare but this time there was something else. Dizziness abruptly rippled through his head and Virgil stumbled just as a sharp burning pain erupted deep inside him. _Not now. Please not now,_ he thought struggling to push down the pain and stop the transformation before it had a chance to really get started.

Robert and Sharon looked at Virgil in sudden concern both realising immediately that something was wrong with him.

"Virgil what is it?" Robert asked but Virgil did answer. Robert and Sharon watched in alarm as Virgil groaned and almost doubled over clearly in a lot of pain. But what happened next took their breath away.

A blue glow seemed to momentarily surge under Virgil skin running along his veins arteries and capillaries making them glow with an errie and terrifying blue light. They could see the pain on Virgil's face as the glow started to spread out into the surrounding tissue.

"N…n…no," Virgil groaned. "I w…w…won't let y…y…you."

Concentrating with all his strength Virgil fought against the monster that was starting to emerge from inside of him. He could feel fuzziness starting to envelop his thoughts but he fought against it with desperate strength and slowly but surely it faded away. But the pain didn't stop Virgil could feel all the barriers he was trying to build around the energy degrading and with a jolt of horror realised that this time he couldn't stop the transformation.

Turning he ran for the door knowing he had to get away, he had to protect his family from the monster inside of him while he still could. The door was fortunately still open from coming through it a moment earlier and he ran through heading right for the alleyways opposite the house.

He continued running up the alleys until another surge of pain erupted from inside and Virgil stopped dead in his tracks and dropped to his knees in agony. His blood was burning with agony and Virgil screamed at the top of his lungs. Fuzziness enveloped his thoughts but it was different to before this time the world didn't start fading away. Instead he felt something start to invade his mind pushing him back. Wave after wave of pain erupted inside of him and Virgil heard the sound of himself screaming like a wounded lion like an animal gone mad with pain. He also heard the sound of tearing cloth and realised that his clothes were not being just damaged this time they were being torn to shreds.

But it was distant fading away as Virgil felt the force in his mind getting stronger a force that was dark and terrible and terrifyingly primal and inhuman. Virgil fought against it but it was too strong and his awareness of the world diminished to almost nothing as he was pushed right back into the very back of his mind. The pain vanished as he lost all control over his transforming body. He could still hear and see what was going on and he heard himself continuing to scream but the screams becoming increasing more like animal growls.

And then all of sudden the screams stopped as Virgil felt the creature take over from him completely leaving him here in his mind a helpless horrified spectator, a prisoner in his own body.

He felt himself standing up and sensed hunger from the thing that was holding him prisoner. Hunger for energy and a terrible hunger for destruction. At the moment though the hunger for energy dominated and he felt the monster he had been transformed into begin heading away from the alleyway in search of a large enough source of electrical energy.


	6. Chapter 6

Mutation 

Chapter Six

Richie and Adam ran from the corner of the block near Virgil's house when they heard a echo of a feral scream, this made them run faster towards the Hawkins Residence.

"T...that sounded like the creature..." Adam puffed as they got closer to the Hawkins Residence.

"W... we were t... too late" Richie said as they ran up the stairs, through the open door and found the Hawkins a little confused and shocked into what they had just seen.

"Sharon? Sharon, are you ok?" Adam asked, shaking his girlfriend slightly.

"A... Adam? Something's wrong with Virgil! He just froze up in the middle of our fight and started glowing blue before... oh baby bro... what has happened to you?" Sharon said snapping out of her shcoked and confused state before bursting into tears.

"It's ok Sharon, we'll get him back" Adam spoke in a soft voice and wrapped his arms around her gently.

Richie walked back over to the open door and looked around to see if there was any sign of which way Virgil would have gone.

"How long have you know Richie..." A gruff voice spoke softly before a heavy hand landed and squeezed his shoulder.

"About that Virgil is that monster... only just found out myself... I'm sorry" He said and lowered his head.

"It's ok, I know you will find a way to cure Virgil... this brings up some bad memories for you doesn't it?" Robert asked as Richie had spoken to him about any troubles he had in the past including the time he was captured by Brainiac.

Richie shuddered knowing what Robert meant, "It does... I got to get back to HQ and fix Backpack... we need to find the cure and fast!" He said, pushing the haunting memories away and focused on what was happening now.

Robert nodded and moved his hand off the young genius metahuman's shoulder. "We'll look after Sharon, call us once you have got anything and I mean anything Richard" He said, showing some concern for his son and his son's best friend.

"Ok I will... Virgil might have left his shock vox up in his room but I will double check its location once I got Backpack up and running... it took a pretty powerful hit but it wouldn't take me too long to repair him..." Richie said as he jumped down the steps instead of walking down them.

"I will use my connections with the police to help find the location of Virgil and see which way he is heading..." Robert said, recieving only a nod before watching the blonde boy run off back towards their headquarters.

* * *

Virgil watched helplessly as the creature tore through the cars and any other vehicles travelling along the main road, he tried to fight against it but it was too strong and he was tiring fast.

_I... I can't fight it... _He thought and images of his family came up including Richie and Adam. _I'm sorry... I'm just not strong enough... _Virgil thought, fighting back the tears that were threatening to leak over.

* * *

Shelly Sandoval watched from the helicopter as the creature threw blast after blast of its energy at buildings, making them explode on contact. Her pilot was doing his best in getting good footage for her while not putting themselves in danger.

"This is Shelly Sandoval reporting live from mainstreet, the creature has made a reappearance and is terrorising the cillivians and happy shoppers. There has been no sign of our residental hero Static once again, this is the third appearance of this terrifying monster" She reported in her clear voice as they passed over the creature who was distracted by a police car tear by.

"The first appearance of this terrfying beast we saw Static's sidekick Gear fight it until it disappeared leaving disaster and terror… its second appearance only a few short hours ago saw the heroes Gear and Rubberband Man fight against it once again but this time reports that came in suggest that the creature is, if possible, getting stronger" Shelly continued, the helicopter's pilot lurched violently to the left to doge a random attack.

"We better get out of here Ms Sandoval!" The pilot said as another blast flew by the helicopter and hit the billboard nearby, making if fall into the street below.

"Right! I am sorry ladies and getlemen but it has become too dangerous for us to be here" Shelly reported as the helicopter shook violently again.

* * *

Richie wiped the sweat away from his forehead, his cheeks covered in oil and the odd cut on his fingers which he had to treat and cover but before long, the light on Backpack flickered back into life.

"At last… come on Backpack" He muttered as he checked the systems along the link between Backpack and his computer.

Backpack ran its diagnosis and got back up on its legs flexing them before moving around on the desk, then scanned its creator. A little beep sounded and uplugged itself from the computer.

"I'm fine Backpack, just that we need to get to work… Virgil is in trouble… we better hurry" Richie said, grabbing his helmet to help with the interface system between him and the robot.

* * *

Robert hanged the phone up before placing it back on its hanger and went back into the main room to check on Adam and Sharon.

"Just got off the phone with my connection at the police department, they think that he is heading over to the Dakota power station…" He said and sat down on a free armchair.

"He must be needing the energy… I've seen Static drain the energy he needed from a nearby power supply or the zap caps" Adam spoke quietly while keeping Sharon close.

Robert nodded and thought about what the elastic metahuman had just said, it was true about his son using the power supplies like that but it often resulted in Virgil being totally exhausted afterwards.

* * *

Virgil shook his mind clear of the fuzziness that was threatening to engulf him.

_I got to keep awake! I got to keep awake! _He kept repeating to himself, fighting the temptation of the darkness that came with sleep.

_Rich… please hurry… _Virgil thought desperately as he watched helplessly as the creature that he had become continue with its reckless rampage throughout the city.

* * *

Richie quickly washed in the small bathroom they had salvaged from the junkyard and moved to their headquaters, before changing into a fresher costume.

He had left Backpack running analyse on the formulae of the adhesive against Virgil's power for all and any hope to find out how this had happened. Once that was discovered then they could start on the antidote.

Richie came back from the small bathroom, carrying his helmet and made himself a cup of coffee before joining Backpack at his computer.

Lines upon lines of code was flying about on the screen as Backpack worked with the data stored on its systems and the data stored on Richie's computer. It did this by using the link, it had plugged itself into the computer while its creator went to freshen up.

As for its creator, Richie, he watched the code for anything that his robot buddy could have missed. "Backpack, use the code from where we scanned our DNA after the second big bang" He said as he saw that the code Backpack was using to compare was the original code from when he had first created Backpack.

Backpack beeped in affirmination before continuing its analyse with Richie monitoring carefully. The lines of code flying acrosss the screen.

It went on for a few minutes, silence filled the gas station with it occasionally being broken by the police scanner talking about any ways that might be able to slow the creature.

Richie frowned and tapped a few keys on the keyboard, the screen displayed the complete formulae for the adhesive on one side and the scan of Virgil that they did shortly after the second big bang on the other. Backpack moved its eye to look at the screen to see if there was any reason to why this had happened.

Sighing deeply, Richie took his glasses off and put his helmet back on, securing it as he stood up. "Its no good Backpack, I can't see a place where we are suppose to start… we'll just have to go out there and get a scan of the monster Virg has become" He said as he activated the screensaver on the computer.

Backpack beeped in a concerned tone before moving away from the computer and off the desk, before climbing up Richie's back to its normal spot. Richie ran a mental checklist of what Backpack carried and made sure that it carried enough water zapcaps to do the job they needed to do. "Everything will be ok Backpack, we'll get Static back safely" He told his robot buddy as they left the gas station and took off to the sky, heading towards the last place the creature was spotted in.

* * *

"W…we have to go there! H…he still might be inside that thing!" Sharon said breaking the silence that had engulfed the Hawkins Residence.

"Its too dangerous Sharon! I have been hit by one of those energy blasts… if it wasn't for my metahuman powers then I could have been…" Adam stopped and sighed.

Robert got up off the armchair, "We have to try Adam, if things get too dangerous we will get out of the way and let you and Richie try and cure him" He said checking to see if his keys were in his pocket, which they were.

Sharon and Adam got up off the couch, "I'll go ahead but have to stop at the headquaters and see if Richie is there" Adam said as he transformed into his costume. "Ok… just be careful" Sharon said, tears still in her eyes. Adam smiled softly and wiped a tear from the corner of Sharon's eye before kissing her.

Robert shook his head and opened the door before heading out to check his car, leaving the young couple alone.

* * *

Gear flew through the sky, memories flew through his head as he flew above or past familiar sights but soon enough signs of reckage covered the streets and the tall buildings. _Virgil… please hang on… _He thought as he increased his speed slightly and soon enough sirens filled the air.

Gear muttered under his breath and soon there was a water zapcap in his hand. _Here we go… _He thought silently and threw the cap hard at the creature, it shattered on impact of its force field. Gear's hand was empty for a few seconds before another cap filled his gloved hand ready to be launched.

"Backpack, full analyse scan…" Gear ordered as they dodged another energy blast but attacked back with a water cap that created a hole in the force field temporary which allowed Backpack to get a scan of the creature that Virgil had become.

* * *

Virgil shook in terror in hearing the creature scream in pain, looking around through blurry eyes to find the cause of the creature's pain and was happy to see that it was Gear and Backpack, which looked freshly repaired.

_Richie… _He thought and tried to fight the powerful monster to stop it attacking.

* * *

Gear noticed the creature slow his attacks down and in those few short seconds delay Backpack displayed a small icon on the visor, telling Gear that it had completed the scan.

A car appeared out of nowhere and parked behind a upturned firetruck. Gear realised who the car belonged to and unleashed a series of attacks to confuse the creature/Virgil. Landing, he met up with the Hawkins and Rubberband Man.

"Its dangerous here! You shouldn't even be here!" Gear said sounding like the hero he is.

"We came here because that thing is my baby brother and we have got to try and help" Sharon said, the fire engine acting as a temporary shield for them.

Gear listened to Sharon and thought about the small battle he had just had, "V… he is still in there… he's fighting…" He said and half of his visor flashed in different symbols and code telling Gear that Backpack was analysing the scan and compare them between the scans in Backpack's memory banks.

"We got to try and get through to him… try and keep him with us" Robert said and then suddenly making the two heroes and the two cillivians jump, the fire truck was lifted up and thrown into the nearby grocery store. This left them revealed to the full view of the creature who glared at them and powered up.

* * *

Virgil's eyes widened when he saw his family in front of him, Gear and Rubberband Man stood in front of them trying to protect them from him.

Around him he heard the monster growl and power up ready to release a fully throtle attack on his family, getting all of his strength together he pushed it all into one simple command.

"STOP!" He screamed and forced the creature to stop and freeze up.

Gear saw the creature move in the same way that Static got ready to power up and unleash one of his more powerful attacks. At a silent gesture Rubberband Man and himself moved as one to stand in front of Mr Hawkins and Sharon but what happened next shocked all of them.

A cry emitted frm the creature before the corona of it died down to reveal Virgil. "I…" He muttered, his voice cracked and sounded like he was straining against something.

To be continued…


	7. Chapter 7

Mutation  
Chapter Seven

Robert couldn't believe what he was seeing, instead of his son dressed in his hero costume but a large blue creature with an impression of his on on the energy corona of the monster.

"I..." Virgil said sounding strained against something.

"Son, you got to fight this" Robert said being held back safely by Gear and Rubberband Man.

"Its too strong dad... I just -- you got to get away! Its too powerful" Virgil said trying his best to try and keep control of his body but couldn't keep it up and was flickering all of the time.

"Virg, bro! Please" Gear called out, his voice sounding stern but concerned.

"Sorry bro..." Virgil muttered before moving the monster's hands up in the air and fired a blast, blinding everyone in the area.

"Virgil!" Everyone called out, covering their eyes against the brightness of the light but he was gone.

* * *

Virgil felt the monster take over once again, he tried to fight it back but felt his energy leaving him while the monster continued to get stronger. Keeping the monster back from attacking his family had worn him out, he could feel the monster getting stronger once again before his world went black. 

Free of Virgil's control, the monster roared loudly and felt that it was drained of the energy it had so it went on a small rampage on the way to the nearest large source of energy.

* * *

Gear couldn't believe it, he had done that to his best friend, to his partner. "I... I can't believe it..." He muttered as the spots cleared from his vision. He had transformed his best friend almost his brother into a monster. "I got to get back to the lab... I have to find a cure for this mess I've gotten him into" Gear said to Adam and the Hawkins before taking off to the sky, already running calculations in his head and on the visor as he flew back to the gas station.

Adam watched Gear go and sighed, "We better get you back home safe Sharon, Mr Hawkins" He said knowing that the paparazzi would be around soon enough asking anyone and everyone questions about what had just happened between two of Dakota's heroes and the monster terrorising the city.

"Adam, please tell me that we will get Virgil back" Sharon pleaded to her boyfriend, who just looked at Sharon before pulling her into a hug, "We'll get him back Sharon, don't worry... just now this place isnt safe at the moment" Adam said pulling her back and looked at her with pleading eyes.

Robert sighed and knew that the young hero was worried for his daughter and they all were worried for his son. "Come on Sharon, let's go home... Adam will contact us with any news" He said taking his daughter away from the young hero who sighed and moved away a little.

"I got to go and check on Gear, see if he will need any help" Adam said and changed shape into his normal ball shape and bounced around the debree deeper into the city.

Sharon watched her boyfriend bounce away before sighing, "Ok Daddy, I know that they will find a way of getting Virgil back... they have to" She said feeling her cheeks burn and her vision blurred.

Robert pulled his daughter into a hug as he led her away from the scene of descruction and back to their house, he trusted Gear and knew that he would do anything to get his best friend back. '_Be safe Virgil_' Robert thought and prayed silently to Jean hoping to get his son back.

* * *

As soon as Gear landed outside of the gas station, he entered it with Backpack jumping off his back and followed its master to his work area. Gear had taken his helmet off and slipped his glasses back on before sitting down in front of the computer and began to type furiously, focusing purely on that he wanted Virgil/Static back.

All that could be heard was the tapping of keyboard keys and the occasional mutter coming from the young blonde genius, these sounds echoed around the unusually quiet gas station.

The door silently creeked open and a figure sneaked in quietly making their way across the station to where the young genius was working.

"I'm working here Shenice" Was the response to this presence in the headquarters.

"I came over as soon as I heard, is there anything we can do?" Shenice or Shebang said, moving to lean against the desk not looking at the monitor as strings of coding and calculations flew across the screen.

"The only thing any of us can really do is pray that whatever has gotten into Virgil's systems either burn out or I can find the cause and hopefully find a way to stop the changes but I got to hurry as he is weakening..." Richie said reading the screen and compared the scan what Backpack did in the battle against the creature that was known as Virgil to the incident just a few short minutes ago.

"That thing is Virgil? How?" Shenice asked as she had only seen the news about the creature and thankfully that the incident that had just occured that there were no press around to capture the moment on film and blow Virgil's cover wide open.

"I know how but its just the matter of why, as I was incased in the stuff and yet I'm fine..." Richie muttered as he reached over and replaced his helmet for his glasses, he wanted Backpack to check his calculations before he created the formulae that was written down on the computer.

"I better go out there and see if we can find him" Shenice spoke, thinking about that she should change into her costume before heading out to the streets to see if they could find Virgil and try to buy Richie some time.

"Just be careful Shenice, Virgil had worn himself out on that last battle... there..." Richie stopped and tried to gain some his posture back. "He might not be in there..." He said focusing on his work and tried to do his best Batman impression but knew he failed.

"I will, we will get him back Richie" Shenice said before leaving the workroom.

"Just hope you're right... Virgil, please hang on" Richie muttered and double checked his calculations alongside Backpack.

* * *

"This is Shelly Sandoval reporting live" The female reporter announced from the helicopter.

"The creature that had terrorised the city countless times has returned and is now attacking one of Dakota's largest power stations, it appears to be draining the energy away from the station and into itself" She carried on reporting as the camera spun around to look below.

Down on the ground, the large blue humanoid shape was glowing brightly as it continued to absorb the energy from the power plant into itself, all around the creature destruction was laying in its wake. The police had formed a barrier of cars around the station trying to figure out the best way to fight against the monster but knew that their weapons would be useless, the metahuman capture team was there but couldn't think of a way to stop it.

"The question on everyone's minds is where is Static?" Shelly reported knowing that it was upto Dakota's young heroes to save the day.


	8. Chapter 8

**Mutation**

**Chapter Eight **

Backpack beeped as it went through another area of code that together Richie and itself was working on. The reason that it beeped was that it had detected an anomaly in one part of the string of data.

Richie looked over the string of code that Backpack had highlighted to get his attention, "Think you're right Backpack but that has to be one of the unknown pieces of a large jigsaw" He said with a slight sigh and rose up out of his chair to walk around to work out this large and complex puzzle.

"I know I'm missing something but what" Richie muttered as he walked up and down past his desk where Backpack was working on the coding still.

Adam watched from the doorway as the young blonde genius walked back and forth talking to himself or to Backpack, he could never tell which. He guessed that Virgil could tell most of the time where he could not. _There has to be someway that I can help, just feel so useless standing here and being able to do nothing!_ Adam thought to himself as he watched Richie continue to pace.

Watching Richie pace made Adam's mind wander, he thought about the encounters they had had with the creature that Virgil had transformed into then over to where he had fought side by side with Static, seeing him knock out countless criminals. It was then that he realised that something so simple was different between the Static he knew to the creature that was really a trapped Virgil that he wondered how they had all missed it.

"Richie! The creature, its blue" He called hoping to snap Richie out of his muttering and pacing.

Richie froze in his pacing, "What did you say?" He asked keeping his back to Adam.

"The creature that Virgil has become… its energy is blue but isn't Virgil's energy a purple white colour?" Adam asked Richie moving into the headquarters a little more.

Richie stayed still for a while going over what Adam had said, "Of course! It's so simple!" He said racing over to the computer and started typing at a super speed, interrupting Backpack's work.

Backpack looked up with its green optic eye and bleeped in a questioned tone. "Its just so simple Backpack, we need to compare the energy signatures of Static and of the creature" Richie said talking to the robot and focused on the work in front of him.

Adam dared not look at the screen in case that he would get a headache from the speed of the strings of code flying across the screen, how Richie could read what was going on the monitor was questionable but still Adam knew that he could.

* * *

A loud roar followed closely by a rocking explosion rocked the small community around one of Dakota's many power transfer stations. The creature had overloaded the breakers for this station causing it to shut down.

The police got back up on their feet as the creature tore the fences around the station down and headed off towards the streets once again to continue its search for energy. Once on their feet, they drew out their firearms and started firing at the creature but the bullets just simply ricocheted off the creature's force field.

Sensing the points of impact against its sensitive shield, the creature growled in anger and threw a energy wave back at them with a backhanded fashion as if it did not care about the police's attempt to stop its search. This energy wave sent the police back off their feet and stunned them for a few minutes giving the creature time to get away without trouble.

One of the young men had reached over to his bike that he had placed away from what they had classified as a dangerous and active crime scene and up to his radio.

"Chief Barnsdale, the creature is on the move again… this station has been overloaded" He managed to say before giving way to unconsciousness.

* * *

Adam had fished out a can of drink from the fixed refrigerator as he continued to watch Richie and Backpack work together on this new point of view of how to get the Virgil they knew back out of the creature.

Shenice had recently returned a little scuffed from what she told him was when the power transfer station the creature had been feeding from had overloaded resulting in a shockwave. She had been talking to the lieutenant in charge when the shockwave had shook everybody, sending them either off their feet or into nearby walls of the buildings.

Richie leaned back against his chair flexing his hands slightly as Backpack finished up for him. "We got it, the energy that Virgil uses has been switched so that its no longer natural to him which explains why the creature is on that energy hunger rampage" He said as Backpack beeped and showed a string of code on the monitor. "That's right Backpack, print it out"

Adam got up off the couch he had been sitting on, threw the empty can over into the bin before heading over to Richie's desk. "So have you found a way to get Virgil back? All of that energy can't be good if we want him back the way he was" He said worried that when they did get Virgil back that he would either have no powers or be dangerously overloaded with the wrong type of power.

Shenice looked between the two older heroes wondering what they were going to do now and how she could become involved. "So what's the plan of action?" She asked breaking the small silence that had echoed around the station after Adam had spoke.

"We know what's happened now," Richie said. "Now we just need to know how its happened. And that is easy to find out." Without further explanation Richie stood up and hurried over to the cupboard where they kept their battered, battle scared cleaner.

Taking out the cleaner Richie removed the dust bag from the cleaner and carried it over to his lab equipment. After the incident where he had almost blown up his father's garage he kept his chemistry stuff here. He placed the bag on the desk and retrieved a energy zap cap from his belt.

"Richie what are you doing?" Adam asked confused into what the metahuman genius was up to with the beaten up cleaner's bag and a energy zap cap.

"It was the dust that caused the energy to change," Richie replied, "but I need to know how if I am to reverse it."

"And how does an energy zap cap help?" Shenice asked confused into the experiment Richie was about to conduct will do.

Richie inwardly sighed realising that Shenice hadn't caught up unlike Adam. "I think I understand Richie, the energy in the zap cap was put there by Virgil before the incident yesterday so it would be unchanged" Adam said with Richie nodding.

"Precisely, so if I'm right then the energy inside this zap cap will change to what the creature is made of" Richie said as he tore the bag carefully so not to cause too much dust around the area he was working at.

With the bag torn and the dust inside revealed, Richie worked on adjusting the zap cap so that he could open it slightly. He had already hooked Backpack to the zap cap so it could record the results of when he added the dust to the stored energy inside. "Ok, so if I am right, the dust caused the change so if I add some of the dust…" Richie talked through what he was doing by picking up a old and battered teaspoon, filling it with the dust inside the bag and gently moved it across into the zap cap.

Backpack had connected itself to the computer so that any data he was receiving could be displayed on the large monitor, which Richie glanced over at as he sealed the zap cap and moved back over to the computer.

Adam moved closer to see but all he could see once again was strings of code flying across the screen but what he did see was the code changed on one side to match the other side of the screen. "What is going on Richie?" He asked confused to why the data was doing that.

"The date on the right is the energy signature of the creature, Backpack managed to record it after the latest encounter with it…" Richie said in a half thinking tone as he continued to watch the data change. "The data on the left is the energy coming from the zap cap over on the desk over there" He said in the same tone, pushing his glasses up slightly.

Shenice went to talk when the alarm on the police scanner went off, "If that is a metahuman on the rampage, he or she has lousy timing!" She muttered earning a slight laugh from Adam.

"Since when do they ever?" He said as he headed over and turned the alarm off to hear why it had sounded.

"The creature has started its attack on the power transfer station at 32nd Street" A panicked police officer spoke across the radio.

"At least we now know where it is" Adam said shifting back into his Rubberband Man costume as he had changed into his civilian clothes while Richie had worked at his computer. Shenice nodded and headed towards the door but noticed that Richie had not moved an inch away from his computer.

"Are you coming or not?" She asked seeing that he was deep in thought and shrugged. "Guess not, just you and me" She said to Adam before leaving the gas station with Adam close behind.

Richie soon started typing once again, unaware that he was alone in the gas station. He knew what he had to do now, how he could reverse Virgil's transformation. He just hoped that there was enough time left to do it in.


	9. Chapter 9

Mutation

Chapter Nine

The police car that had just arrived on 32nd street screeched to a halt to stop crashing into an overturned truck, which soon caught on fire when hit by another blast. The police inside the car jumped out and ran behind the closest parked car.

"What the devil is going on?" One of the officers yelled over the loud roar coming from the large blue creature that was on a rampage going from power station to power station.

"I don't know! But this is crazy!" The other officer said as he ducked behind the car along with his partner as their car got blown up.

The creature roared again before firing a large blinding blast making the police duck down hiding their faces from the light and the glass that had shattered from the windows of the surrounding buildings.

"Bill! Bill are you ok?" The officer called as the light died down as well as the roar.

"I'm fine Tony, what was that?" Bill asked as they rose back up on their feet carefully shaking the glass shards off.

"I don't know" Tony said as a shadow covered them both. As they looked up they came face to face with the large blue monster that had been terrorising the city throughout the day.

Before the monster had a chance to attack it screamed in pain and backed off to release a series of attacks at the building behind it.

Rubberband Man bounced down from the building behind the police officers. "Are you ok?" He asked the officers as the creature roared in anger and frustration.

"We will be, what is going on?" Tony asked as they watched something strike the corona of the blue creature.

"Shebang is up there keeping it busy while I help you two get out of here" Rubberband Man said glad that they had picked up a case of water zap caps before they left.

"But where is Static and Gear?" Bill asked wondering where the more common heroes of Dakota were.

"They're coming... listen you need to head back to the station, you'll be safer there" Rubberband Man said looking at the two officers before a large piece of rubble hit the car that they were sheltering behind.

"Think you're right, thanks" Tony said pulling Bill away before they ran away from the blue creature and the wreckage surrounding it.

Rubberband Man sighed deeply before pulling a water zap cap of his own from his hidden pocket and joining Shebang in distracting the creature that they knew was Static buried deep inside the monster.

'_Hurry Richie, Virgil needs you!_' He thought as he bounced out of the way of one of the creature's attacks.

* * *

Richie groaned and hit his head on the desk twice before moving away, and headed across to the drinks table where a coffee maker sat that he had rescued from the junkyard.

Backpack glanced over at its creator before going back to the computer while Richie got himself a cup of coffee.

"Sorry Backpack, just needed the caffeine... when we do get Virgil back then how do we know that he will have his powers or if he ever wants to become the superhero Static ever again?" Richie said leaning against the table as the coffee maker warmed up.

"This city needs Static just like we need Virgil to be the cheerful, funny, energetic teenage that he is! But because of my stupid invention blowing up in our faces and the effect that it has had on my best friend, he's out there now trapped in that monster that I created!" He continued to vent out his frustration to his trusty robot.

Backpack let the computer run its program while turning to face Richie, who was now pacing back and forth from the desk and the coffee maker. It watched with its green optic eye wondered silently to itself how long he would go on for this time.

"How could I do that to him Backpack? How could I have done that to my best friend? The one person that I can always turn to when my parents... my father gets too much!" Richie said running a hand through his hair, pushing it back while making it more messy than it usually was.

Backpack wondered what to do when the coffee maker hissed into action, filling the glass jug that sat underneath it and the computer beeped for attention so the robot turned back to the computer while the blond teenager got his much needed caffeine fix.

* * *

Rubberband Man pulled Shebang down behind the upturned fire engine as the power plant that sat on the corner of 32nd Street went up with a glass-shattering explosion.

It sent out a large shockwave, knocking out all of the electronic devices in the immediate area are while breaking all and any glass from the windows of the buildings to the windscreens and windows of the vehicles nearby. The shockwave also knocked everybody onto the floor, mostly being police and firefighters that were near the power station trying to stop the creature from draining the energy into itself.

Soon the shockwave faded only to be replaced by a loud roar and more explosions, Rubberband Man looked over the fire engine to see that the creature was moving on. "He's leaving" He called to Shebang before jumping over their barrier and across to where the police were picking themselves up.

* * *

"This is Shelly Sandoval reporting to you live from what remains of 32nd Street" Shelly introduced as the camera scanned over the scene of wreckage and destruction as the police and firefighters worked together to try and clear the wreckage or rescue people from upturned cars.

"The creature has struck again by destroying 32nd Street's power station, the police were helpless in fighting of this powerful monster, whose origins are still unknown" She continued as the helicopter continued to circle the street below.

"We have just had reports in that the creature is now heading for the large power plant, and if the creature sucked the power out of this station then the nuclear plant will overload wiping Dakota off the map" Shelly said with a urgent and grave tone.

"I speak for everyone when I say, Static we need you so please help us!" She said holding her microphone tightly.

* * *

"That's great Backpack! This will work, it has to!" Richie said as they finished sealing the zap caps containing what the robot and himself hoped was the cure for transforming Virgil back into the energetic metahuman that he truly was before being caught up in a unseen backlash of Richie's experiment.

"Gear to Shebang, come in" Richie called into the shock vox while Backpack finished the checks on the caps before unloading them into the compartment that usually held the spare caps.

"Shebang to Gear, go ahead we're here" Shebang's voice came back through the shock vox, closely followed by the screams of terror and mixed sirens.

"We finished the caps! We are more certain that these caps will free Virgil from that creature, where are you?" Richie asked as Backpack climbed off the table and up onto its normal space on Richie's back.

"We're in Central Park! He's heading for the nuclear plant Gear!" Shebang said sounding stressed as an explosion was heard in the background.

"Ok Shebang, try and keep him distracted as long as you possibly can as we're on our way" Gear said securing his helmet with one hand switching the shock vox between his hands, his gloves held by Backpack.

"Distracted? How?" Shebang asked as Gear switched the shock vox to his hands free system before he put his gloves on and performed the checks on his skates and his other systems.

"Improvise, I'm on my way" Gear said taking off into the sky making the quickest way to the park he knew.

* * *

Shebang looked at the shock vox, "Improvise? Thanks for the advice!" She muttered putting the shock vox back on her belt and watched the trees rip from their roots before being thrown at the police.

"What did Gear say?" Rubberband Man asked as she swung through the trees towards the creature.

"To keep him busy until Gear gets here with the cure" Shebang said moving out of the way of the large flying tree that was on fire.

Rubberband Man caught up with Shebang once again after dodging the same tree she had just dodged. "The cure? Gear's got it?" He asked as the creature roared in anger.

"Yes he has, now we just got to keep big blue busy until Gear gets here! Any ideas?" Shebang asked as an explosion rocked the area.

"How many water caps have you got left?" Rubberband Man asked as they came to the clearing seeing the area lit up by the flashing lights of the fire engines and police cars, other sources of light was one of the police cars on fire.

"About four I think... what's the plan?" Shebang asked as they came to a halt at the edge of the clearing.

"I got four too... so we need to talk to the chief and explain the plan to him as we're going to need their help to give Gear the extra time" Rubberband Man said as he looked around for the chief of the police force.

Shebang sighed and climbed back up into the trees to see if she could see the chief amongst the chaos of the new battle zone.

The chief could be found near the firefighters talking to the chief of the firefighters, together they discussed all and any possible means of stopping the creature reaching the nuclear power plant.

"Water has had effect on the creature in the past but now its just so powerful I'm not sure what would work on it" Chief Rohan said with a sigh and rubbed his eyes tiredly, it had been a long day for the firefighters and he didn't know how much longer his men would last.

"We just have to hang on a little longer, ah Rubberband Man please tell us you have good news, all of our men are exhausted" Chief Barnsdale said with a tired gruff voice as Rubberband Man joined them.

"Gear has just contacted us saying that he is on his way with an improved zap cap, we're hopeful that this will work" Rubberband Man said keeping his cool and secure look in his posture, and on his face.

Chief Rohan raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms watching the elasticised superhero in front of him. "Sounds like we need to keep that creature busy until Gear gets here," He said looking at the hero in front of him.

"That's right Chief Rohan, we just need ten minutes until Gear gets here" Rubberband Man said as Shebang joined them.

"You got a plan, haven't you?" Chief Barnsdale said knowing the hero too well.

"I do... we're going to need the firefighters help to get the job done" Rubberband Man said before they were knocked off their feet from a nearby explosion of yet another police car.

"Let's hear it" Chief Barnsdale said gruffly as they got back up on their feet and dusted themselves off.

* * *

Gear flew through the sky as fast as he could get his jets to go, he hoped that he wouldn't be too late to rescue not just the city but Virgil.

As he approached Central Park, Gear could make out the lights of the many police cars and fire engines as the natural light was fading into an orange glow of the evening.

"This long day is coming to a end and hopefully more way than one" Gear muttered as he silently armed himself with a water zap cap as they would need to break through the corona of the creature before they could hit it with the cure caps.

Looking down at the park's main clearing, Gear could see that the firefighters and police had worked together to make barriers of fallen trees and fire engines in hope to keep the creature at bay until he had arrived.

"Well Backpack, let's get this show on the road" Gear said to his robot buddy before flying into the clearing to join the battle down below.

* * *

Rubberband Man could hear Chief Rohan yelling orders and line of encouragement to his men as they focused on controlling the high pressure of water shooting out of their hoses aimed either directly at the creature or scraping by and keeping the trees too damp to catch on fire from the loose sparks flickering off the creature.

The creature itself roared in anger and frustration powering up to attack the men hiding behind the wooden barriers howling in pain from a fresh attack from above.

If fired up at Gear with one of his bolts, barely missing the super intelligent metahuman before Gear returned fire with another cap.

Rubberband Man felt his shock vox vibrate for attention in his pocket, pulling it out with taking his eyes away from the creature he guessed who it might be. "Hey Gear, nice shot!" He said with a small smile.

"Thanks Adam but listen, in order for the cure to be administered we need to get the corona of the creature down as the cure needs to be a direct hit to the body not the force field!" Gear's voice said while he dodged the attacks.

"How are we going to do that Gear? These firefighters are pretty exhausted down here," Rubberband Man said with a sigh.

"Have the firefighters focus on a few spots and that should cause a weakness in the corona, and if we attack him together with the water zap caps it should break down" Gear said hoping that the idea would work as he performed a backflip to keep away from a series of attacks from the creature.

"That could work! You staying up there?" Rubberband Man asked as Shebang joined him behind the main barrier with the two chiefs.

"No, I think I'll stay up here and keep him busy!" Gear replied before launching an attack at the creature to draw attention to him while Rubberband Man talked to the two chiefs, passing Gear's message to them.

* * *

"We're all set here Gear, just need to wait for Shebang" Rubberband Man said across the shock vox.

"We're ready here Gear! Let's get going" Shebang called over the channel.

"About time! I don't know how much longer I can keep this up for" Gear said, his voice sounding tired and strained while above them he did his best to keep the creature busy.

"Ok Chief Rohan, let's get this plan started" Rubberband Man said with a nod and got ready to throw the water zap cap.

"Right Rubberband Man, Men! Hoses on full!" Chief Rohan ordered his firefighters who turned their hoses onto full pressure at their captain's orders hitting their targets.

The creature roared in anger and pain, confused to which direction ti should attack first as the firefighters were attacking from the four different barriers all at once to confuse the creature to give the heroes time to set up their own attacks.

"Now!" Gear yelled across the open shock vox channel and launched his zap cap at the creature while Rubberband Man and Shebang launched their own.

With the pressure of the firefighters hoses and the water concentration of the zap caps, there was a large roar of anguish followed by a large flash of light dazing everyone as the barrier came crashing down.

Gear had his visor darkened so he could see through the bright light that had engulfed the park, '_It worked! Now to get Virgil back!_' He thought as Backpack handed him a cure cap.

He flew down and launched his attack at the creature, flying in a complete circle around it launching as many of the cure caps as possible at the creature before the light died down.

Chief Rohan rubbed the spots out of his eyes along with Chief Barnsdale and Rubberband Man; Gear landed and watched the creature stumble before heading off away from the nuclear power plant. "He's backing off!" He said ordering Backpack, mentally, to turn his visor back to normal.

"Great! We better follow it!" Rubberband Man said and leapt over the barrier as Shebang joined them.

"Did it work?" Shebang asked as the police and firefighters alike cheered at getting the creature to back off away from the nuclear power plant.

"Well the cure is in him! But he's backing off... we better follow him" Gear said as he took back off into the sky and looked for the blue creature.

* * *

The creature growled deeply as it stumbled back into the city, it felt its power being drained off as it continued its journey to an unknown destination.

As the cure flowed through the creature, it burned off the excess energy and slowly woke Virgil up even though Virgil was exhausted from the fight against the creature.

'_Home... need my home..._' A thought bounced around the creature's mind as it howled in pain as yet more energy pulsed off it, lighting the buildings and the artificial lighting of the streets surrounding it.


	10. Chapter 10

Well here it is everyone! The last chapter of Mutation, A big thank you to Andrewwilliams for writing this for me so make sure you readers out there thank him too otherwise this fic would not have been able to come to a reality!  
Hope you enjoy reading this and stay close for its follow up fic coming soon, I promise!

* * *

Chapter Ten

Gear, Rubberband Man and Shebang followed the creature at a safe distance for nearly twenty minutes. The creature was stumbling around through the back streets and alleyways in an almost drunken fashion, occasionally pulsing and giving off small bursts of energy particles as its power drained. They couldn't see the creature directly, all they could see of it were the occasional flares as it lost energy.

Despite their limited tracking ability Gear could tell where the creature was going. _It's going home,_ he thought, _some part of Virgil must have woken up inside it and is compelling the creature to go home._ Gear ran some calculations in his head to see if he could work out the point when the creature would for the last time change back into the energetic, electrically-powered metahuman they all knew and loved. But try as he might he wasn't able to work it out. He didn't know enough about the energy the creature was made of to accurately predict how long the cure would take to complete its work.

Ahead of them another flare erupted as the creature lost more energy. _I hope its not much longer,_ Gear thought, _it's almost to the Hawkins place._

* * *

The creature stumbled through the back streets, dazed and confused. Driven by the strange force in its mind that it did not understand. Nor did it know where it was going.

The hunger no longer called to it and the pain was fading as its felt itself growing weaker and weaker. It wanted to just collapse and rest, but the faint insistent voice at the back of its mind was getting stronger and stronger, compelling it to go forward. _Home must get home,_ Virgil's faint thoughts said, _must get home._

* * *

All was quiet in the Hawkins household; both the TV and radio were switched off leaving Robert and Sharon Hawkins sat in silence. A silence filled with worry and fear. Fear that they might never see Virgil again, that he was lost to the creature he had transformed into.

"Do you think they'll save Virgil daddy," Sharon asked breaking the silence though her voice was shaky after having cried out her worry and fear for what had seemed like ages.

"I don't know Sharon," Robert replied worry and hints of hopelessness in his voice. Sharon looked at her father in worry as she heard that. She prayed that Richie would be able to come up with a cure that would turn the energy creature back into Virgil, because if Virgil were lost forever then she did not think her father would be able to withstand the loss. In fact she was pretty sure that the pain and heartbreak of Virgil basically dying would destroy him.

Before she could speak however the overhead lights flickered and even in here they heard it. A roar that sounded like the roar of the energy creature, but it was different there was an almost human quality to it. It was also close, very close.

"It came from out the back," Sharon said getting up and heading out the back, something telling her that this nightmare was about to end. Robert stood up and followed his daughter hoping she knew what she was doing. He was pretty certain they were about to face the energy creature again, maybe it would attack them as it was obvious to him that Virgil had exhausted himself stopping the monster he'd become the last time.

Robert and Sharon arrived out the back just as a blue flash came from directly behind the fence. A moment before the creature appeared jumping over the fence instead of destroying it. Both of them immediately noticed that the creature was smaller; it was now only slightly larger than Virgil was and appeared humanoid though its features were blurred and indistinct.

Slowly the creature approached them then abruptly paused and pulsed with light again energy flying off it to dissolve in the air in a luminous fog. The creature shrunk in front of them, becoming the same size as Virgil. Its blurred features resolved so it appeared as an athletic male teenager made entirely out of energy, the creatures facial features though contorted in pain were now clearly Virgil's.

Then the creature doubled over, wrapping its arms around its abdomen and it roar, but as it did so the roar underwent a Doppler shift becoming a human scream of pain.

"Virgil," Robert breathed suddenly understanding what was happening. Richie must have succeeded in making a cure and getting it into the creature for now the creature was changing back once more becoming Virgil Hawkins. The creature looked up at them and on its face both Robert and Sharon saw recognition.

The creature staggered forward then collapsed onto its knees. A hand came up as if it was reaching out to them and then to their shock the creature spoke. The voice though distorted and distant sounding was unmistakable.

"Pops," the creature said in Virgil's voice. _No not the creature anymore,_ Robert thought, _its Virgil. He's back._

A ripple seemed to pass over the creature and before their eyes the beckoning energy hand changed becoming a human hand made of flesh and blood. Virgil/Creature seemed to groan as the change spread, then from inside it came a final brilliant flash of light that momentarily blinded both Robert and Sharon. But even through it they heard Virgil scream, a scream of a mixture of pain and relief. Then there was nothing more other than a thud.

Blinking rapidly to clear their vision Robert and Sharon looked in the direction of the creature. To see that it had vanished. Instead their lying on the ground was the naked, unconscious but familiar human form of Virgil Hawkins.

For a moment Robert and Sharon stood their frozen, then without speaking raced forwards to Virgil's side.

* * *

Gear accompanied by Rubberband Man and Shebang arrived at the scene moments later. Gear smiled when he saw that the cure had worked, the creature was gone Virgil was back. Naked and looking completely out of it but his friend was once again human.

He landed nearby as Rubberband Man bounced into the garden before assuming his normal humanoid form as opposed to a ball. Shebang jumped over the fence with easy acrobatic skill at the same time. Gear smiled again then walked towards Robert and Sharon.

"How is he," he asked.

"He's unconscious," Robert replied as he awkwardly picked Virgil up. As he held his son he looked worriedly at Richie. "He's not going to turn into that thing again is he Richie?"

"No," Richie replied taking off his helmet. "The cure has made sure of that all the altered energy has been purged. It's allowed Virgil's normal physiology to take over again, he won't ever transform into that thing again now. Now the one thing we will have to deal with is the very thing that I cannot use any technology to help with."

"Yes," Robert replied knowing that Richie was referring to the emotional aftermath of this experience; Virgil was probably going to be badly traumatised by what had happened. "But first lets get him inside the last thing we need on top of this is Virgil getting a cold."

Richie nodded in agreement. Gently cradling his sons unconscious form Robert turned and walked inside. Slowly everyone followed, Sharon feeling Adam but a comforting still rubber-like arm around her waist as they did so.

"Are you alright Sharon," Adam asked.

"I am now Adam," Sharon replied. "Now that I've got my little brother back, I just hope that Richie is right and he doesn't change again."

"Of course he is," Adam said reassuringly. "That monsters gone it won't ever come back again. Now all we have to do is be here to help Virgil get over this."

Sharon nodded as they disappeared inside the house. Like everyone else she knew that Virgil was going to be badly traumatised by what had happened to him. How a corruption of his own powers had turned him into a monster instead of the superhero he normally was. She didn't know how long it was going to take to help him recover, but she'd stick with it, she'd help her little brother recover, they all would stick with him.

No matter what happened.

The end


End file.
